Tapan Khandelwal

EXPERIMENT-5

OBJECTIVE: To measure the phenomenon of linear and circular polarization of antennas.

APPARATUS: Antenna transmitter, receiver and stepper motor controller, Pair of dipole antennas,
RHCP & LHCP crossed dipole antennas and RHCP & LHCP axial mode helix antennas, Antenna
Tripod and stepper pod with connecting cables.

THEORY: The polarization of an antenna is the polarization of the radiated fields produced by an
antenna, evaluated in the far field. Hence, antennas are often classified as "Linearly Polarized" or a
"Circularly Polarized Antenna".
1. Linear Polarization:
Linear Polarization or Plane Polarization of electromagnetic radiation is a confinement of the electric
field vector or magnetic field vector to a given plane along the direction of propagation.

Fig5.1. A horizontally polarized antenna will not communicate with a vertically polarized antenna.

Due to the reciprocity theorem, antennas transmit and receive in exactly the same manner. Hence, a
vertically polarized antenna transmits and receives vertically polarized fields. Consequently, if a
horizontally polarized antenna is trying to communicate with a vertically polarized antenna, there will
be no reception.
For two linearly polarized antennas that are rotated from each other by an angle , the power loss due
to this polarization mismatch will be described by the Polarization Loss Factor (PLF):
Hence, if both antennas have the same polarization, the angle between their radiated E-fields is zero
and there is no power loss due to polarization mismatch. If one antenna is vertically polarized and the
other is horizontally polarized, the angle is 90 degrees and no power will be transferred.

2. Circular Polarization:
Circular polarization of an electromagnetic wave is a polarization state in which, at each point, the
electric field of the wave has a constant magnitude but its direction rotates with time at a steady rate in
a plane perpendicular to the direction of the wave.
In electrodynamics the strength and direction of an electric field is defined by its electric field vector.
In the case of a circularly polarized wave, the tip of the electric field vector, at a given point in space,
describes a circle as time progresses. At any instant of time, the electric field vector of the wave
describes a helix along the direction of propagation. A circularly polarized wave can be in one of two
possible states, right circular polarization in which the electric field vector rotates in a right-
hand sense with respect to the direction of propagation, and left circular polarization in which the
vector rotates in a left-hand sense.
 Tapan Khandelwal

Circular polarization is a limiting case of the more general condition of elliptical polarization. The
phenomenon of polarization arises as a consequence of the fact that light behaves as a two-
dimensional transverse wave.
Circular polarization is a desirable characteristic for many antennas. Two antennas that are both
circularly polarized do not suffer signal loss due to polarization mismatch. Another advantage of
circular polarization is that a RHCP wave will reflect off a surface and be LHCP. This is
advantageous because an antenna designed to receive RHCP waves will have some immunity to the
signal-fading effects of reflected waves interfering with the desired wave. These are some of the
reasons GPS signals from satellites are RHCP.

Fig5.2. Circularly Polarized Light

OBSERVATION TABLE:

1. Linear Polarization:

S.No. Frequency Amplitude Orientation

1. 600 MHz 74.5 Both transmitter and receiver are horizontal
2. 600 MHz 48.4 Transmitter – Horizontal, Receiver - Vertical
3. 600 MHz 71.6 Both transmitter and receiver are vertical
4. 600 MHz 46.7 Transmitter – Vertical, Receiver - Horizontal

2. Circular Polarization:

S.No. Frequency Amplitude Orientation

1. 600 MHz 58.2 Transmitter – Vertical, Receiver - LHCP
2. 600 MHz 62.8 Transmitter – Horizontal, Receiver – LHCP
3. 600 MHz 63 Transmitter – Horizontal, Receiver - RHCP
4. 600 MHz 58 Transmitter – Vertical, Receiver - RHCP

RESULT : We have measured the phenomenon of Linear Polarization using half wave dipole antenna
and Circular Polarization using Helix Antenna.